This is a transcription of the Keene, NH addition from A Gazetteer of New Hampshire Containing Descriptions of all the Counties, Towns and Districts in the State by John Hayward, John P. Jewett (publisher), Boston, 1849.
KEENE ADDITION
NOTE 11. KEENE.– “In the early part of the year 1746, the general court of Massachusetts sent a party of men to Canada, for what purpose is not now recollected, and, perhaps, was not generally known. On their return they passed through Upper Ashuelot, now Keene. On arriving in sight of the settlement, they fired their guns. This, of course, alarmed the inhabitants, and all who were out, and several were in the woods making sugar, hastened home. From some cause or other, suspicions were entertained that a party of Indians had followed the returning whites; and for several days the settlers were more vigilant and more circumspect in their movements seldom leaving the fort except to look after the cattle, which were in the barns, and at this stacks in the vicinity.
“Early in the morning of the 23d of April, Ephraim Dormer left the fort to search for his cow. He went northwardly, along the borders of what wan then a hideous and almost impervious swamp, lying east of the fort, until he arrived near to the place where the turnpike now is. Looking into the swamp, he perceived several Indians lurking in the bushes. He immediately gave the alarm, by crying ‘Indians! Indians!’ and ran towards the fort. Two, who were concealed in the bushes between him and the fort, sprang forward, aimed their pieces at him, and fired, but neither hit him. They then, throwing away their arms, advanced towards him; one he knocked down by a blow, which deprived him of his senses. The other he seized; and, being a strong man and an able wrestler, tried his strength and skill in his favorite mode of ‘ trip and twitch.’ He tore his antagonist’s blanket from his body, leaving him nearly naked. He then seized him by the arms and body; but, as he wry painted and greased, he slipped from his grasp. After a short struggle, Dormer quitted him, ran towards the fort, and reached it in safety.
“When the alarm was given, the greater part of the inhabitants were in the Fort, but some had just gone out to tend their cattle. Captain Simons, the commander, as was the custom every morning before prayers, was reading a chapter in the Bible. He immediately exclaimed, ‘Rush out, and assist those who are to get in.’ Most of the men immediately rushed out, and each ran where his interest or affections led him; the remainder chose positions in the fort, from which they could fire on the enemy.
“Those who were out, and within hearing, instantly started for the fort, and the Indians from every direction rushed into the street, filling the air with their horrid yells. Mrs. M’Kenney had gone to a barn, near where Miss Fiske’s house now stands, to milk her cow. She was aged and corpulent, and could only walk slowly. When she was within a few rods of the fort, a naked Indian, probably the one with whom Dormer had been wrestling, darted from the bushes on the east side of the street, ran up to her, stabbed her in the back, and crossed to the other side. She continued walking in the same steady pace as before, until she had nearly reached the gate of the fort, when the blood gushed from her mouth, and she fell and expired. John Bullard was at his barn, below Dr. Adams’; he ran towards the fort, but the instant he arrived at the gate he received a shot in the back. He fell, and was carried in, and expired in a few hours. Mrs. Clark was at a barn, near the Todd house, about fifty rods distant. Leaving it, she espied an Indian near her, who threw away his gun, and advanced to make her prisoner. She gathered her clothes around her waist, and started for the fort. The Indian pursued; the woman, animated by the cheers of her friends, outran her pursuer, who skulked back for his gun. Nathan Blake was at his barn, near where his son’s house now stands. Hearing the cry of Indians, and presuming his barn would be burnt, he determined that his cattle should not be burnt with it. Throwing open his stable door, he let them out, and, presuming that his retreat to the fort was cut off, went out at a back door, intending to place himself in ambush at the only place where the river could be crossed. He had gone but a few steps when he was hailed by a party of Indians, concealed in a shop between him and the street. Looking back, he perceived several guns pointed at him, and, at this instant, several Indians started up from their places of concealment near him; upon which, feeling himself in their power, he gave himself up. They shook hands with him; and to the remark he made that he had not yet breakfasted, they smiling replied, ‘that it must be a poor Englishman who could not go to Canada without his breakfast.’ Passing a cord around his arms above the elbows, and fastening close to his body, they gave him to the care of one of the party, who conducted him to the woods.
“The number of Indians belonging to the party was supposed to be about one hundred. They came near the fort on every side, and fired whenever they supposed their shot would be effectual. They, however, neither killed nor wounded any one. The whites fired whenever an Indian presented himself, and several of them were seen to fall. Before noon the savages ceased firing, but they remained several days in the vicinity.
“In the early part of May, the same, or another party of Indians, hovered about the settlement, watching for an opportunity to make prisoners, and to plunder. For several successive nights, the watch imagined that they heard some person walking around the fort. When it came to the turn of young McKenney, whose mother had been killed, to watch, he declared he should fire on hearing the least noise without the fort. In the dead of night, he thought he heard some person at the picket gate, endeavoring to ascertain its strength. Having loaded his gun, as was usual among the first settlers of the country, with two balls and several buckshot, he fired through the gate, which was made of thin boards. In the morning, blood was discovered on the spot, and also a number of beads, supposed to have been cut by the shot from the wampum of the Indian.”